About one in five people on this planet are Muslim, and most of them soon will be preparing for a month of fasting.
The terminology for fasting in Islamic doctrine is “sawm.” For Muslims it means to abstain from eating, drinking and engaging in sexual intercourse from dawn to sunset.
The only requirements for fasting in Ramadan are that one should have reached the age of puberty and be physically and mentally healthy enough to endure the fast.
The purpose of the fast is to develop piety and self-restraint.
Ramadan is the ninth month on the Islamic lunar calendar and Muslims fast because Ramadan is the month in which Prophet Muhammad received the first words of the Koran, the Muslim holy book, revealed by God through the archangel Gabriel.
The fast begins when the thin sliver of the new moon is spotted on the western horizon just after sunset. This year, the predicted date of the beginning of Ramadan is around Aug. 1, a date that coincides almost exactly with the sighting of the new moon of Ramadan.
Muslims don’t look at the month-long fast as a hardship. On the contrary, a Muslim welcomes Ramadan as a guest of honor. Throughout the month of the fast Muslims reflect this happiness by greeting each other with a joyful salutation: “Ramadan Mubarak,” which means “Blessed Ramadan.”
